


Talk Me Out of It

by ongwaii



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Rejection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-25 13:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ongwaii/pseuds/ongwaii
Summary: “I like you.”“You what?!”





	Talk Me Out of It

**Author's Note:**

> written for prompt no. 270 (´ε｀ )♡

_“I like you.”_

 

These three words are not something seongwoo isn’t used to. In fact, throughout the past twenty-three years of his life he received an uncountable numbers of love confessions, mostly from girls; both older and younger were charmed by his sculpted features and enchanting personality.

 

He had his fair share of guys asking him out as well but he’d always rejects them all in the politest, most respectful way one could possibly do. because _you know_ , he’s straight.

 

Yup, ong seongwoo is pretty much obviously a straight-as-a-ruler type of guy and everybody is aware of that.

 

So why in hell is he standing few stairs away of his apartment with his eyes almost popping out of how wide they’re opened in shock as his best friend repeats the same three demonic words.

 

_“You what?”_

 

“I said I like you.”

 

The street light flashes above them, making the scene appear even more comical.

 

Daniel looks so serious, so determined, and it adds more weight to seongwoo’s jaw.

 

“How? Why? I mean how?” his voice comes out wobbly as he stumbles upon words, failing to find ones more suitable to be said at this kind of situation other than ‘ _WHAT THE FUCK’_.

 

Daniel shrugs his shoulders with a small unsure smile drawn on his face. if not for the way his leg is slightly fidgeting seongwoo would have fallen for his nonchalance act.

 

“It just happened, I guess.”

 

Seongwoo almost scoffs out loud but thankfully manages to hold it in.

 

 _‘Just happened’,_ the way daniel says it like that time he did when he accidentally spilled chocolate milk all over his homework. but it’s more of an I-like-my-best-friend kind of situation now so it’s kind of less funny.

 

“For how long?” he asks, not entirely sure what’s the point of the question but he feels the urge to know anyway.

 

“Since freshman year.”

 

“you mean by the time we first met?”

 

“Three months in,” daniel corrects him, swaying his leg lightly as he lets a small sheepish laugh while rubbing his temple in a clear attempt to avoid seongwoo’s eyes. “You’re too charming not to fall for.”

 

Seongwoo stands there with his mouth still hung open like an idiot. there’s too many information for him to process in a very short length of time.

 

_Two years._

 

Daniel have liked him for – almost – two whole freakin' years and he didn’t have the slightest idea, and seongwoo is not sure if it’s daniel who deserves an academy award or it’s just because he himself is too dense for his own good.

 

And what is he acting all slick for? _‘You’re too charming not to fall for.’_ where the hell does he think he’s going with his words? Best friends wing each other not flirt with each other! And they certainly don’t confess to each other either especially if one of them is very open about his heterosexuality!

 

seongwoo knows daniel is bi, and that other was never really secretive about it. He had witnessed him going out with at least couple of dudes before and the older never really minds it since it’s not that he’s homophobic or anything in that matter, It just never had crossed his mind that maybe, _someday_ , daniel might catch some feelings for him, because that’s not possible, they’re super mega best bros who’d spend their nights drinking beer as they watch SpongeBob religiously, nothing less platonic than that!

 

He rubs his face into his palms with heavy frustration while trying to let whole thing sink in. And it suddenly hits him that what’s worse than his best friend confessing his feelings to him is that he actually have to deal with it.

 

A simple _‘I’m sorry but I’m not interested in seeing anyone right now’_ in a gentle tone would usually do the trick, but not now, not with daniel.

 

He takes a quick glance at the younger, his broad shoulders looks stiff and the way he’s gulping nervously every three seconds makes seongwoo sigh in defeat.

 

 _Oh boy, this is gonna be horrible_.

 

Seongwoo clears his throat.

 

“I– I really don’t know what to say.” it’s the best statement he could mutter while considering the other’s feelings at the moment. “you know I’m not into guys.”

 

Daniel nods with a small understanding smile that doesn’t conceal the disappointed expression on his puppy like face and the older almost feels guilty about it.

 

“It’s alright, I saw it coming.” he scratches his nape, clear embarrassment could be seen by the red tips of his ears.

 

 _Then why did do it,_ the thought pops instinctively into seongwoo’s head but he decides it’s best to leave it untold since there’s no way it could help with anything.

 

 

The sudden awkward silence that takes over the scene afterwards is unbearable. seongwoo opens his mouth only to close it right away, he’s not sure if he should excuse himself to head into his apartment or ask daniel if he would like to come inside to end their night with a couple of beers as they intended to do in the first place, which doesn’t sound like the right decision at all.

 

Daniel however clears his throat causing seongwoo’s rapid train of thoughts to crash.

 

“I– um I think I should go.” he then turns on his heels immediately not sparing the other a look nor giving him a chance to say another word.

 

___________

 

For the few following days seongwoo tries to test the waters, He sets a plan where he approaches the younger casually as if the events of that night hasn’t stirred some shit between them and just forget about all of it. Perfect plan!

 

But the thing is, he can’t find the younger, or to say it in a way more fitting to the situation; he can’t catch him.

 

Daniel has been and in the most obvious way avoiding seongwoo, which is understandable considering the circumstances, to some extent, as in what the older would think.

 

The only intention seongwoo have though is to make sure the other knows he’s fine with it. That he won’t stop being daniel’s friend just because he have a crush on him or love him or whatsoever.

 

So when his latest attempt to encounter the younger (who rushes quickly into his class as soon as he spots seongwoo) fails, he concludes that this is it. It’s the final straw.

 

He thought it was best to talk in person out of respect to the younger’s feelings but since he can’t seem to appreciate his efforts — which offends seongwoo to no end, then he’d go with the most unappreciated one.

 

 **Self:** hey

 **Self:** dude where r u

 

It takes daniel exactly ten minutes to reply.

 

 **Daniel:** eh

 **Daniel:** class??

 

Seongwoo rolls his eyes as he can imagine the younger panicked expression clearly in his head. Why is he being like this.

 

 **Self:** suuure

 **Self:** anyway,,

 **Self:** u know about last time

 **Self:** we r still good

 **Self:** right?

 

He ruffles his hair then bites on his finger nervously as he waits for the younger who takes his sweetest time before he finally responds.

 

 **Daniel:** yeah

 **Daniel:** of course

 **Daniel:** but I think I might need some space

 **Daniel:** for a little while

 **Daniel:** u know

 **Daniel:** to sort my feels and shit

 

Seongwoo sends him an okay before shoving his phone into his pocket and start heading to his class while ignoring the small unsettling feeling forming inside his chest.

 

It’s okay, whatever daniel needs if it’s space or time, being the good friend he is he’ll give it all to him. No problems!

 

___________

 

_What the fuck is taking him so long._

 

Seongwoo stares daggers into the back of the puppy-like guy seated few tables away. it’s been three weeks exactly since he texted the younger yet not a single word he heard from him. _Little while my ass_ , he mutters bitterly to himself.

 

And it doesn’t stop there, no! it looks like he found himself a new companion — a brunet with some visible chubby cheeks who could pass as a cuddly teddy bear judged by how daniel is throwing his arms around him, pulling him closer whenever a chance comes by.

 

His grip tightens on the upside down book in his hands. anyone who’s free enough to take the time to glance at him would sense the petty anger radiating from the black-haired male.

 

He knows he’s being – kind of – irrational. He should understand the younger’s position, and he does! With all honesty! But daniel seems to be perfectly fine. And well. And not in love with seongwoo, which is terrific! really, That’s what seongwoo have been waiting for; daniel getting over him so everything could go back to how it was.

 

Except that the younger is still on his ‘I need some space’ stage, making seongwoo pissed at himself for being pissed at him for such an inconvenient reason.

 

“Would you please stop that animalistic noise.” minhyun, his flat mate and close friend sitting on the opposite side speaks with his eyes stuck to the textbook laying on the table before him.

 

“What noise?”

 

Minhyun makes a _grrr_ sound, resembling an angry animal that sensed an intruder near his territory.

 

“I don’t do that!” seongwoo half yell in defense then knit his brows with annoyance when the girl sitting three chairs away shushes him.

 

The other snorts mockingly mumbling a small ‘ _sure you don’t’_ under his breath, eyes still on his book.  

 

Seongwoo slams the book shut (which he clearly had no intention on reading), cross his arms and leans back to his chair while puffing his cheek, Clearly upset. As much as the sight of daniel with the chubby cheeks dude irks him, minhyun still hold strong the crown of who-can-ruin-seongwoo’s-mood-in-a-record-time.

 

 _Speaking of the devil_ , he returns his gaze towards daniel and his new friend much less subtly now, but no worries! They’re too busy whispering and giggling into each other’s ears like some freaking teenagers to realize the sharp glare he’s pointing at them.

 

A pout takes over his lips as he taps his foot on the floor repeatedly with not so hidden aggression which doesn’t go unnoticed by minhyun who shoves his textbooks aside then lean closer to the petty boy seated in front of him.

 

“If I ask would you stop.” he asks through gritted teeth.

 

“Maybe.”

 

“Okay then, could you please enlighten me of what kind of reason could have possibly got your panties in a twist today?” Minhyun asks in the most unenthusiastic way one could use.  

 

He then follows at where seongwoo is gesturing with his chin before he intones an _oh_.

 

“It’s jaehwan and daniel.”

 

“You know him?” seongwoo bawls out with betrayal written all over his face as if minhyun just told him he killed his cat or something along these lines.

 

He ignores the glare the lady next to them shots him as she starts to collect her stuff, apparently she had enough of seongwoo’s shit and minhyun couldn’t relate more, so he gives her an apologetic nod accompanied with a small smile before she heads on her way.

 

“What’s her problem.” seongwoo mutters in irritation.

 

“You do realize we're at the library and talking isn’t allowed let alone yelling.”

 

“You know what shouldn’t be allowed?” he fully ignores the other’s statement as he wags a finger at the cause of his misery. “THIS! they’re snuggling! in a library! what the fuck!”

 

When minhyun checks again it’s daniel with his head rested on jaehwan’s shoulder while the other as what appears to be is explaining something for him. a normal sight to normal people considering how cuddly daniel tends to be. but seongwoo isn’t one, so.

 

“I’ve noticed they’ve been getting pretty close lately.” minhyun says nonchalantly as he reopens his textbook despite fully knowing that he won’t be able to get any work done with seongwoo’s bratty ass hanging around.

 

Seongwoo scoffs. “Who is that dude anyway?”

 

“Kim jaehwan, he’s the guy who helped me pass mathematiques last semester.” minhyun shivers at the ugly memory. “He’s smart but can be a dickhead sometimes, hope niel will survive the whole semester with him around.”

 

“I can’t believe you kne– wait, what do you mean by ‘the whole semester’?”

 

Minhyun rolls his eyes at how hopeless the other is before he opens his mouth again. “They got paired for some project two weeks ago I believe, not sure what’s the whole deal though I barely listen when jaehwan speaks.”

 

Seongwoo would snort with mockery at the remark in any other occasion that doesn’t involve daniel being stuck with that _jaehwan_ for a whole ass semester. Just the thought of it makes his blood boil in his veins.

 

 “You knew all of this and you didn’t tell me?” he scowls all of a sudden at minhyun who looks taken back for a second.

 

“Why should I?” the older of the two arches an eyebrow, visibly amused by the exaggerated reaction he’s receiving.

 

“I can’t believe he ditched me for some random dude he met two weeks ago.” seongwoo mutters bitterly under his breath but it’s audible enough for the other’s ear to catch.

 

Minhyun sigh in defeat, sometimes dealing with seongwoo could be quite a challenge.

 

“It’s not ditching if he asked for some space.”

 

“For a little while!” seongwoo quotes the younger’s words. “it has been three weeks already and he hasn’t even said hi to me once!” he spits back, too convinced with his childish logic.

 

“wow what a douche, can’t believe you gave him that much yet he’s still not over you,” Minhyun sneers, unamused but continue nevertheless. “I know you can be quite a needy piece of shit when it comes to daniel but please seongwoo, at least for this once be a reasonable adult and give the poor boy the space he asked for.”

 

The older of the two sharpen his glare threateningly when seongwoo attempt to open his mouth, so out of fear for his own life seongwoo concludes that it’s best to just drop the subject right where it is before a book gets shoved down his throat.

 

It gives minhyun the joy of fifteen minutes to do his work in utter silence before he checks his watch.  

 

“I gotta go my class start in ten minutes, you’re staying?” minhyun starts gathering his stuff as the other nods at him with his eyes still glued on the pair.

 

“Don’t do anything stupid.” he shoots him a warning look.

 

“Define stupid.”

 

The tone used is too innocent it makes minhyun’s anxiety flow off charts. “You know what let me rephrase it, don’t get me involved.” with that he leaves the other who waves him goodbye.

 

As soon as minhyun is out of sight seongwoo returns his eyes to creep on the pair once more with a frown on his face at the thought of the discussion they just had. Fuck minhyun, He’s not a needy shit (okay maybe a little).

 

The main cause of his vexation was never an overflowing neediness, it’s just that he’s afraid of the idea that he and the younger might not be able to return as close as before, worse than that they could drift apart for good.

 

And the fact that daniel had just wiped his whole existence isn’t really helping. Seongwoo knew that they won’t be spending much time together as before but not to the extent of becoming total strangers! _A single ‘hey’ won’t kill him!_

 

And what’s worse is daniel befriending this new jaehwan.

 

His scrunches his nose in aggravation at the thought of the boy when an idea pops in his head.

 

_This new jaehwan._

 

___________

  


**Self:** :3

 **Self:** hyuni :3

 **Self:** come on u r online i can see you

 **Self:** mmiiiiiinnnnnhhhyuuuuuunnnnn

 **Self:** hyuuuunnniiiiiiiiiiiiiii :3:3:3:3:3

 **Minhyun:** I’m literally in the next room

 **Minhyun:** and type properly or i’ll block you

 **Self:** no no dont block me i need smth

 **Self:** something* shit anyway

 **Self:** you know few days ago

 **Self:** when you told me about the jae something who helped you with math?

 **Self:** jaehan?

 **Minhyun:** jaehwan

 **Minhyun:** and your point?

 **Self:** my point is

 **Self:** can you ask him to help me with stats????

 **Self:** pretty please??

 **Self:** I refrained myself of typing pwease so you’d agree

 **Self:** pwease appreciate the effort

 **Minhyun:** ok but

 **Minhyun:** first

 **Minhyun:** math and statistics are not the same subject you idiot

 **Minhyun:** secondly if this is about daniel I swear

 **Self:** both have numbers so

 **Self:** and no no I promise!!

 

_Fingers crossed._

 

___________

  


Seongwoo makes his way into the cafeteria as he searches through the tables for the guy he’s looking for. He spots him sitting alone on a table by the wall, too busy munching on a sandwich.

 

“Good morning.” seongwoo wears the biggest smile on his face, going all the way with his plan to befriend the lad and fit himself in so daniel could ignore him no more.

 

If daniel isn’t going to do anything about their dying friendship, he’ll sure do. He almost could hear minhyun calling him an idiot for it inside his head but who asked for Mr.bighead’s opinion anyway.

 

The guy looks unimpressed as he eyes him from head to toes.

 

“Whatever that is you need couldn’t it wait till I finish my food?” he grumbles, apparently displeased by seongwoo’s timing as he clicks his tongue in annoyance before he forces a fake smile at the other then continues with not so much enthusiasm “and good morning to you as well.”

 

seongwoo’s big smile cracks a little at the uncivil response.

 

 _Be patient, you need him._ he tells himself.

 

He forces a laugh out anyway and sits on the opposite side without waiting for a permission.

“I’m minhyun’s friend, the one who needs help with school stuff.”

 

The guy stops eating and squints his eyes at him as if he’s having hard time to remember when minhyun had just talked to him about it this morning. It makes seongwoo wish he could poke them out of their place.

 

“Oh you’re the dumbass!” he exclaims loud enough to gather the attention of the few students passing by them and causing seongwoo’s face to fall fully this time. “Minhyun’s words, not mine.” jaehwan says while rising his hands in defense.

 

 _Calm down, you lived through worse._ Seongwoo clears his throat.

 

 “it’s ong seongwoo.” he speaks dryly this time, no matter how much he gathers his will he can’t bring himself to act friendly anymore and it doesn’t look like it’ll make any difference to the other anyway.

 

“Kim jaehwan,” he extends a hand in attempt to shake seongwoo’s “and your master, as long as you’re under my supervision.”

 

Seongwoo grimaces at him with a look that screams _‘are you for real?’_

 

 “Welp, you’re the one seeking my help so suck it up.” jaehwan shrugs as he takes another bite of his sandwich.

 

Seongwoo can’t help but to wonder how in hell did daniel get along just fine with this piece of shit? It has been barely two minutes since they started talking and he already wants to jump off the roof.

 

Jaehwan shoves the last piece of his food into his mouth then claps his hands to draw seongwoo’s attention who flinches violently out of surprise.

 

“stop wasting my time and get your shit on the table.”

 

___________

 

 

“Okay this one is simple, in this example the mathematically succinct way is by this notation,” jaehwan underline something on the book but seongwoo is too lost to get what it is. “where x equals the numbers from one to– hey are you listening?” jaehwan flicks his forehead with the pin in his hand, earning a long whine from the other.

 

Seongwoo leans his back onto the chair while huffing as he rubs the red mark on his head. “You lost me three words in.”

 

“if you keep this up you’ll be the dumb kid who never graduates so instead of–” he stops talking to attack the yawning mess before him once again earning another whine.

 

“I can’t help that I’m a human with an attention span of a golden fish”

 

Seongwoo hides behind his arms when jaehwan threatens to strike his poor abused forehead one more time as he reconsiders all of his life choices that led him to this very moment. this whole _plan,_ is it even worth it.

 

“Hey.”

 

A deep voice greets them and right then seongwoo decides; _yes, it’s definitely worth it._

 

When seongwoo lowers his defense down he’s met with the smile he won’t admit that he misses so bad. But to his dismay it falls as soon as daniel’s eyes rest on his, turning into a startled frown that seongwoo isn’t very fond of. He’d rather that silly grin back instead.

 

“Oh daniel hey,” jaehwan greets him with a high five. “I’m tutoring Mr.dumbass here but you’re welcome to join the party.”

 

daniel gives him a half smile as he scratches his nape, a habit of his whenever he feels uncomfortable. “Thanks jjaeni but I think I should leave you two alone.”

 

 _Jjaeni,_ daniel calls jaehwan, the dude he knew for less than a month with a fucking pet name meanwhile he ignores seongwoo’s entire existence, who happens to be his friend for two years.

 

“No Daniel, jjaeni’s right, you should totally join us.” at times like this seongwoo is very grateful for being an outstanding theater student, because he’s _this close ._ to reveal his bitter self and voice the petty thoughts of his out loud.

 

 “You haven’t earned the jjeani title yet so stick with master.” jaehwan flogs his poor forehead once more making seongwoo wince in pain.

 

A chuckle slips out of daniel’s mouth accidentally before he hastily clears his throat then sit down next to jaehwan with no more words.

  
  
  
  
  


Seongwoo and jaehwan continue their tutoring slash bickering season, the latter happens to be a great help actually despite the fact that he’s indeed a dickhead, as minhyun mentioned before.

 

 

However, during this whole time daniel have been obviously trying to distract himself, he’d check his phone more frequently than seongwoo remembers, or stare at the faceless people passing by, he’d basically do anything to prevent himself of interacting with seongwoo in any kind of way.

 

The older would be lying if he said that didn’t hurt, but he acts oblivious anyway.

 

A while later _‘Master’_ have some _‘unfinished business’_ to deal with, freaking out the older with his words before he excuses himself and then leaving the other two still seated in a very unpleasant silence for a few minutes before seongwoo decides it’s time to break it.

 

“You know I’ve heard one of the girls in my class mention this new good pizza place near campus, wanna go try it out?” he plays with his phone while asking which is a sad attempt to sound as nonchalant as possible.

 

There’s no response for a few seconds and seongwoo starts to believe that he got ignored, then daniel finally opens his mouth.

 

“What are you doing.” his tone is soft but audibly upset, it makes seongwoo feels like apologizing for no reason (well there’s one but he won’t admit it).

 

“Nothing I–” seongwoo stammers, rehearsing his words sounded ridiculous when he thought of it earlier because as he could remember talking to daniel is easier than this, and now that he’s out of wits he regrets not doing so.

 

The other just shake his head with a heavy sigh and before seongwoo could come up with something to justify himself he gets off his chair.

 

“I can’t I have um– things to do.”

 

It’s an obvious lie, but he walks away anyway leaving seongwoo slightly disheartened by the cold attitude and wondering if he should just leave daniel to his own pace before he fucks it up even more.

 

But of course he won’t, seongwoo is too obstinate to let it be.

 

___________

 

 **Minhyun:** seongwoo

 **Minhyun:** STOP IT

 **Self:** nope :p

 

Ever since that time daniel brushed him off, seongwoo have been taking advantage of every opening he finds to counter the other, which all ended up failing miserably by either the younger coming up with illogical excuses to slip away or jaehwan’s damned presence.

 

He checks the watch on his phone while ignoring minhyun’s endless threatening texts before shoving it into his pocket as he makes his way through the halls of the IT department.

 

This time marks as his fifth attempt of the week already.

 

He re-checks his phone when he reaches his destination.

 

11:30 am.

 

 _Perfect, he’s on time_.

 

Five minutes passes before the professor exit the classroom followed by troops of half alive students. He search through them with his eyes until he spots his target.

 

“Daniel!” seongwoo waves his hand excitedly at the said boy as he makes his way to him.

 

Daniel greets him with the same unwelcoming expression as the few days before, however, this time round seongwoo mustered his courage and won’t back off until he gets what he came for. So he hastily gets in daniel’s way, halting his attempt to escape then shoves the cup his holding into daniel’s face.

 

“I got you an americano.” despite daniel’s heavy burdened sigh, seongwoo’s smile remains bright and unwavering, so the other does take the cup with a small ‘ _thanks’._

 

Seongwoo tests his luck and follows daniel’s steps to walk beside him. thankfully, the other doesn’t seem like he’d tell him off.

 

“Seongwoo,” daniel starts after taking a small sip of his drink. “Why are you so persisting?”

 

His tone is calm and far from reproach which comforts the older a little.

 

“Because I wanted to talk to you but you won’t give me any chance so I thought following you around like a creep might work.” a laugh draw itself on seongwoo’s lips when daniel let a small amused chuckle.

 

He suddenly halts his steps and turns his body to face seongwoo, who almost bumps into him. “What is it, I’m listening.”

 

Seongwoo ignores how daniel looks like he’d rather neck himself than actually listen to him and opens his mouth.

 

“I think the space thing is dumb.” he only realizes how harsh his words came out when he notes the younger’s frown.

 

“Wait no– that’s not what I meant, poor choice of words, I mean it isn’t working! I know it may sound selfish– hell, it is selfish, but I think we should drop it because the only thing that changed is that we’re drifting apart and I’m not cool with that.” the last few words comes out way too dramatic he almost gags.

 

“Like, it doesn’t have to be like before, At least Not for the meantime, but can we please stop the whole we don’t know each other thing?” seongwoo asks with a hint of desperation in his voice.

 

Daniel’s features soften at his words. Taking that as a good sign, seongwoo continues.

 

“And I saw you hanging out with jaehwan and I thought you might have felt better, so here I am, giving you the push you need to put an end to all of– ehh that.” daniel chuckles once more at his failed attempt to describe the situation.

 

That’s the filtered version of what seongwoo would like to say though. If he were to voice the original one it would go like; ‘I saw you having the time of your life with jjaeni so I panicked and though you might have over gotten-over-me’ or ‘I hate seeing you with jaehwan all the time I feel neglected and it makes me anxious and all sorts of ugly feelings’. but he had to restrain his bitterness to get on the younger’s good side.

 

And it works! because daniel cracks a smile and seongwoo could not help but to mirror it.

 

“You even guilt tripped me with an americano.” daniel teases while laughing and god, seongwoo missed it so much he almost jumps around with excitement, but instead he just beams warmly at the other.

 

The joy however gets corrupted when he suddenly jolts at the flooding amount of insulting messages he’s receiving on his phone because he’s late for his tutoring season. “I should go or master will spank me.”

 

Daniel spills his drink and starts cackling hard. “Jaehwan would neck himself if he hears you.”

 

“That would be my vengeance.” he smirks slyly making the other laugh even harder.   

 

“See you later?” seongwoo says, no, more like asks with hesitation. however anxiety turns into glee when the younger nods and mutters the same words back to him with a small smile.

 

___________

 

It gets better.

 

The atmosphere is still kind of awkward between them but at least they’re trying. Daniel no longer ignores seongwoo when he’s around. and they text each other sometimes, nothing more serious than exchanging some memes though. They even hang out! But of course not without jaehwan’s annoying company.

 

Moral of the story is; seongwoo is back on good terms with his best friend. He got what he wanted and everything should be perfectly fine right now.

 

Except that it’s not.

 

He’s now sitting in the cheap pizza place he mentioned before, facing jaehwan and daniel who are still as clingy as always – mostly from daniel’s part –. it’s like a deja vu of the library’s nightmare, only worse because it’s up close.

 

And it freaks seongwoo out how he _really_ wants to tear off jaehwan’s arm that’s wrapped around the younger’s wide shoulders. And that he _craves_ to shove the almost empty can in his hand into his wide mouth to shut the crap he’s spitting out that makes daniel laugh oh so fondly at him.

 

Whatever those feelings are, seongwoo isn’t happy about them. they’re toxic, that’s for sure. And the fact that he doesn’t understand where they’re coming from scares him to no end.

 

He flinches when he feels a pinch on his side.

 

“You’re not as subtle as you may think.” minhyun, – who uninvitedly tagged along – mumbles under his breath only for seongwoo to hear.

 

The other would normally bite back but he really doesn’t want to bring attention to this topic any time soon, especially not when the main problem himself is in hearing-range.

 

So he ignores minhyun along with the tug he feels in his chest when daniel leans closer to jaehwan so he can show him something on his phone, which judging by their reaction is a very interesting video.

 

An unintended sigh finds its way out of his lips. God, they’re good now so what’s there to feel all shitty about.

 

A call of his name snaps him out of it.

 

“Earth to seongwoo.” daniel is waving his hand in front of his face, trying to catch his attention.

 

“I told you he have an attention span of a golden fish, He even admitted it to me himself before.” jaehwan says as if seongwoo doesn’t have enough reasons to shit on him already.

 

“Shut up, dipshit.” he spits bitterly through gritted teeth.

 

“Anyway, check this out.”

 

He takes the phone daniel offers him only to see a video of three kittens trying to fit into one bowl. it’s not as interesting as he thought it would be based on how the two reacted previously, but still, it’s hella adorable.

 

He lets a long coo before handing the device back with a sweet grin on his lips.

 

“It’s cute.” he says it with a sweet smile, eyes fixed on the younger who murmurs a small ‘right?’ before he returns to continue his chat with jaehwan.

 

Seongwoo doesn’t take his gaze off – neither the smile – until minhyun coughs harshly grabbing the attention of the whole group. and seongwoo could swear he heard him say the word ‘whipped’.

 

It takes him a few seconds to realize who’s he talking about.

 

As the other two asks the older worriedly if he’s alright, seongwoo stares at him with frowned eyebrows and horrified expression.

 

_What was that supposed to mean?_

 

Fuck hwang minhyun, he’s not _whipped._

 

He’s definitely, absolutely, undoubtedly not.

 

He looks at daniel to prove his point. and the fluttering he feels along with the light heat creeping into his face when he sees the other back on his phone, giggling with adoration at another kittens video does the exact opposite of what he was expecting.

 

_So, He’s not?_

 

___________

 

 **Daniel:** hey 5:22pm

 **Daniel:** we’re hanging out at sungwoon’s this weekend 5:22pm

 **Daniel:** the whole gang 5:22pm

 **Daniel:** you should come :) 5:22pm

 

 _Shit_.

 

Seongwoo’s lays on the couch in his small living room, staring into empty space as he digs his mind for a plausible excuse he can use to turn down the invitation without rising daniel’s suspicion.

 

Which is stupid, he thinks. he can’t avoid daniel over a dumb attempt of minhyun to get into his nerves! especially not after all the efforts he did to fix their friendship. and it’s not like he’s one hundred percent certain of his feelings towards the younger.

 

He had thought about it, a lot. And he’s like fifty percent sure that he doesn’t like daniel that way and those feelings are just his needy self craving for the attention the other is giving to jaehwan instead, and sooner or later he’ll most likely get used to it.

 

The other fifty percent though is something he wouldn’t fancy to think of, Nope, he won’t even consider the possibility of him having any kind of unplatonic feelings for the same friend he rejected not so long ago because he’s straight.

 

That’s right, there’s no way he likes daniel, because he’s straight, therefore, he shouldn’t go through this dilemma about about either he goes or not in the first place.  

 

It’s easier said than done though, so at the end he decides to flip a coin.

 

_Heads he goes, tails he flees._

 

And that’s how he finds himself in sungwoon’s place on saturday night, surrounded by their tipsy wild group of friends and wishing that he stayed home wrapped and warm inside his favorite blanket while marathoning the first show he finds on netflex.

 

He never hates hanging out with his friends though, it's just that it could be much more enjoyable than this, He’d have a blast if not for the fact that the cursed pair who haunts him in his sleep are seated right in front of him. why is jaehwan even here like who the fuck thought it was a good idea to invite him.

 

Seongwoo have no idea how much daniel drank, hell, he hadn’t been counting his own empty beer cans. but judged by how he’s invading jeahwan’s space, sniffing on his hair as he remarks on how good he smells, his guess is too much.

 

He huffs loudly, low key wishing that the younger would notice his grumpiness and cuddle him instead. but daniel, along with everybody else in the room is too drunk to care so he just takes the chance to sulk publicly all he wants and blame it on the alcohol if anybody cares to ask.

 

He gets startled by woojin and jihoon’s suddenly sitting next to him each by side and start talking about some shitty game seongwoo couldn’t care less about, at least not at the moment. so he drinks a mouthful of his beer as he nods to whatever the two starts chattering about.

 

the two starts yelling about what character is the best when a wave of nausea hits seongwoo so he rests his head back and close his eyes, hoping it’ll make him feel better. drinking this much was a dumb idea. he decides to blame it on daniel.

 

 _Man, fuck daniel_. he thinks.

 

He feels a hand on his shoulder and a voice asking if he feels alright. he’s not entirely sure who but it sounds like woojin. he opens his eyes to see check when another wave of nausea hits him harder than the first one.

 

With a hand covering his mouth he pushes the two aside and rushes toward the bathroom, crouching down in front of the toilet the moment he gets there and empty all of his stomach content.

 

When he feels like there’s nothing left to throw up he rests his back against the wall, breathing heavily as he wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve when a daniel holding a glass of water comes into his sight.

 

“Hey, you alright?” the younger asks worriedly as he crouches next to him.

 

seongwoo’s stomach hurts and he feels dizzy and the awful taste in his mouth isn’t flattering either but he nods weakly anyway.

 

“Come on, let’s get you home.” daniel holds him by the arms to help him stand up, ignoring seongwoo’s weak head shake in opposition.

 

He stands there for a minute with daniel supporting his weigh until he collects what he could of himself.

 

“You don’t have to you should ju–” he hiccups “stay and have fun.”

 

Daniel laughs lightly at the older as he guides him gently towards the apartment door. “It’s fine and it’s getting late anyway.”  

 

___________

 

The streets are almost empty when they’re outside. only couple of cars passes by them and not so many people that seongwoo is too drunk to count.

 

It’s indeed getting late. He must have lost track of time amidst all his pettiness.

 

“Go away kang daniel I don’t need you.”

 

He stumbles as he tries to push the other’s big body off him, who ends up holding him once again so he won’t land on his face.

 

Daniel chuckles at how heavily seongwoo’s words comes out. “Alright big guy just watches your steps.” he says as he let go of the older who takes a few instants to balance himself solely on his feet.

 

“You talk as if you’re not drunk yourself.” the way he wags a finger accusingly makes the younger’s wide shoulders shake in laughter.

 

“I didn’t drink much tonight, and you of all people should know how high my alcohol tolerance is.” there’s a teasing smile dancing on his lips that makes seongwoo feel _things_.

 

He then takes an exact minute to reprocess the long ass phrase the younger just said before he speaks.

 

“I thought you were, because previously with jaehwan–” he hiccups “you were sniffing him.”

 

“he hates intense skin ship, I do it to annoy him.” _Oh._

 

A small smile of relief draw itself on seongwoo’s lips.

 

“Oh, relatable.”

  


They continue their walk in silence. Cold night breeze hitting them giving seongwoo chills but it does help him sober up a little so he’s not stumbling around anymore.

 

He steals a glance at the younger. And when he thinks about it, it has been a very long time since they were all alone by themselves.

 

“You know,”

 

Daniel’s voice interrupts his thoughts.

 

“I’m really glad you took it upon yourself to approach me first.”

 

Seongwoo looks at him with puzzled expression before the other continues.

 

“No matter how much I tried to overcome my feelings for you, I couldn’t. which is why I confessed that day. since it won’t go away I thought– I felt like I’m obligated to let you know even if it could ruin what we have and that was a major fuck up” he lets a habitual silly laugh before he continues.” I felt embarrassed afterwards and I regretted that I put my feelings ahead of our friendship. I even had the idea that nothing I’d do could fix it.” the last phrase comes rather sheepishly.

 

“But you did your part, you helped me through it and I think it worked and I’m thankful for that.” he finishes his speech with a light friendly pat on the older’s arm.

 

Even with the softness in daniel’s voice or how sweetly he’s smiling at him, seongwoo still feels a knot forming down his stomach.

 

“You mean you’re over me already?” he asks, voice slightly shaky.

 

“I think I am.” daniel says cheerfully. his tone is too proud for seongwoo’s liking.

 

Seongwoo stares at the younger with frowned brows, not bothering to mask his troubled features.

 

How in hell did daniel get over him so damn quickly? And what the fuck did seongwoo do exactly to help him? Why is he freaking out? wasn’t he supposed to rejoice at the news?

 

He can feel himself panicking when the younger’s words finally sink in.

 

Daniel peers at him with concern. “you okay?”

 

No, he’s not. And he’s certain that once he opens his mouth something idiotic would come out and ruin everything so the best thing right now is not to. But he’s half drunk and can’t think straight, so the first words on his mind comes out instinctively.

 

“You can’t.”

 

“hm?”

 

 

“You can’t just get over me like that.” his tone suddenly gets defensive, he have no idea where is he going with this argument and uncertain of his reasons but the urge to oppose daniel’s words takes over him.

 

Daniel’s features harden a little as he arches an eyebrow in bemusement. “Is something wrong with that?”

 

“Yes– no, I mean–” he wanders his eyes around as if he’s looking into thin air for words to say. “you just can’t”

 

“and why exactly is that?” mix of shock and anger could be seen in the younger’s features as he asks.

 

“because–” seongwoo turns speechless as he searches through his mind for any kind of reason to be said and the only one he could think of is that he’s a selfish bastard, but for what? He fails to know.

 

 

“I think you’re drunk, go inside.” any hint of softness in daniel’s voice is gone by now.

 

Seongwoo didn’t realize they reached his apartment already, not that it holds any importance at the moment.

 

“No, I know my words.” he clearly doesn’t and he will hate himself for it in the morning.

 

“Then explain it!” the sudden raise of voice startles seongwoo along with the bewildered, hurt stare the younger shoots at him.

 

He stands there petrified, nibbling his lips anxiously. he tries with all his might to come up with something reasonable to be said, but there’s none. He can’t explain what he can’t understand. Or to be fair, what he doesn't want to understand.

 

A minute that’s more like a decade for seongwoo passes and the younger’s features gets colder by each second.

 

Giving up on the older, daniel shake his head in disbelief with frustration evident on his features.

 

“Go inside.”

 

He speaks dryly, already walking away as he says it, leaving a paralyzed seongwoo with a heavy weight of guilt on his chest.

 

___________

 

A long deep depressing sigh find its way out of seongwoo’s lips as he lets his face fall flatly on the table in front of him. If he had the will to live before, now he definitely had lost it.

 

“Hey dumbass I’m talking to you here.” jaehwan says as he throws a scrunched piece of paper at the clump of sadness and sorrow sitting before him. the older doesn't even flinch.

 

“And could you please tell me why are we at your stinky apartment when you could be buying me food elsewhere?” jaehwan continues fully disregarding the other’s woeful condition.

 

“I got you snacks so be grateful you piece of shit.” the older points at the bowl of potato chips sitting on jaehwan’s lap without bothering to lift his head to look at him.

 

“language.” his words get muffled by the mouthful of chips he’s munching on. “And I deserve better than this.”

 

“Shut up. I’m broke, deal with it.”

 

“Or avoiding a certain someone.” he speaks in a sing-song, clearly aiming to provoke the older.

 

“I said shut up.” it comes out a little bit whinier than intended.

 

 _Why is that guy even here?_ seongwoo thinks. It’s over with that half-baked plan of his, so why should he suffer jaehwan’s presence anymore?

 

“Geez, chill lover boy.”

 

Only then Seongwoo bothers to look up at the other, not without a cold glare, of course.

 

“What are you trying to imply here?”

 

“Niel suddenly stopped tagging along on our study dates, precisely at the same time you started acting like a cranky little bitch, and let me tell you that says something.” jaehwan drinks his beer if he’s sipping some fancy tea. Too convinced with the claims he’s throwing out in the open.

 

 Not a single time he fails to get under seongwoo’s skin.

 

“Ew don’t call them dates.” the older grimace back at him, pretending that the rest of his words hasn’t hit the nail on the head.

 

“Ignoring my statement only proves it accuracy.” jaehwan says tauntingly.

 

“what the– no it’s not!” he snaps. _Fuck._ if there’s something seongwoo hates more than anything it’s being transparent. and to jaehwan of all people. He’d rather neck himself.

 

“Suuuuuure.”

 

Seongwoo hits his head on the table again. this time repeatedly. GOD, _how satisfying it would be to smack that punk’s head on the wooden surface instead_ , he thinks.

 

“I think you should talk to him.”

 

Seongwoo halts his self torture to raise an eyebrow at the other. Astound–– no, more like horrified by the sudden hint of seriousness that could be heard in his voice.

 

Half of him wants to brush jaehwan off. to tell him it’s none of his business and that if he really cared – which is highly unlikely – he can just make seongwoo’s life much easier by simply fucking off.

 

The other half however, is dying to talk it out and let off some steam. But he’s not ready for another rant about how a circus monkey wouldn’t have done the clownery seongwoo did. _Minhyun’s words._

 

At the end he decides that for once, he’ll actually consider opening up to jaehwan about his issue with daniel. Even though he’s sure he’ll regret it five seconds later.

 

The thought of it itself is enough to make him snort inwardly, but _oh well_ , what choices does he have.

 

“I tried to text him but he didn’t reply.” seongwoo mutters in full self pity as he tries to subtly steal glance at the younger’s reaction who only shows a pained expression while mouthing _‘duuuuude’_.

 

_On a second thought, Fuck kim jaehwan._

 

He buries his face into his hands, whining dejectedly.

 

“I fucked it up.”

 

“What a surprise.”

 

Seongwoo snorts in annoyance. “Why am I even talking to you.”

 

“because I’m your master you need some of my wisdom” jaehwan remarks arrogantly before quaffing what’s left of his beer.

 

“Stop it with the master thing already people are starting to assume we’re into some kind of kinky shit.”

 

“You wish we were.”

 

Seongwoo grabs one of the cushions of the couch behind him to throw it at the other who to his dismay, dodge it successfully.

 

A _pfft_ leaves jaehwan’s mouth as he fixes his posture before he clears his throat to speak again.

 

“No but seriously, despite the enormous urge to humiliate you in every way possible, I honestly think you two should talk, like in person.”

 

“I’ve been telling him the same thing all week,” minhyun walks out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in his hand before he settles on the couch behind the two boys. “But he won’t listen.” he adds with a judging look on his face.

 

“I think I hit the wall here, like I took every chance I have with daniel and threw it right out the window, so what’s there to talk about.” Seongwoo did try to reach for daniel only to be left on read, He can’t blame the younger though.

 

“Your feelings, maybe.”

 

Seongwoo jolts at minhyun’s words. He had yet to embrace the fact that he might be _a bit_ in love with his best friend. And every time he gets reminder of it he feels heavily uncomfortable. Probably due the hideous timing of realization.

 

“Listen, that won’t work anymore. I know daniel, it just won’t.”

 

“I know daniel and I know it will.”

 

Seongwoo chooses to ignore minhyun and throw his head back to groan for the– _what? hundredth time?_

 

“You know, It was funny seeing him hide behind every trash can in the university whenever he spots you, but at some point it’s just became too sad, really.” jaehwan suddenly says.

 

Seongwoo shoots him a puzzled look, not sure where the the other is heading with his words.

 

“My point is, daniel really likes you, cares too much about you and all that jazz, and it’s plain obvious how whipped you are for him as well. so do it you coward.”

 

 

“Do what exactly?” seongwoo asks, taken back by the younger’s unexpected encouraging speech.

 

“Confess, apologize, I don’t know do whatever makes you less pathetic than this.” jaehwan signs at the other wholly as he shakes his head in mocking pity. “and remember it’s daniel we’re talking about so it’s highly unlikely that you’ll end up getting punched in the face if you spit more shit, so what stops you?”

 

Seongwoo isn’t sure if he should bite back at the number of insulting remarks or remain astonished by the fact that jaehwan’s words do actually knock some sense into his head.

 

“The confessing part is all up to you but you do need to face him and apologies if you want to make it right.” minhyun adds to jaehwan’s words.

 

“I’m used to big head shoving his nose into my business all the times but I can’t believe I’m taking advice from you of all people.” Seongwoo jeers at jaehwan with a small chuckle as minhyun kick him lightly with his leg.

 

“Hey you know what,” both turn their heads to jaehwan who suddenly speaks. “maybe you should write him an apology song.”

 

“I think you should not” minhyun counters with an exceeding disapproving look on his face.

 

“No really! I once saw it in a movie and it totally worked! I can help you with it!”

 

Minhyun rolls his eyes at the younger. “Seongwoo, please don’t listen to him.”

 

“Hey! what’s wrong with my idea!”

 

“The fact that it’s dumb.”

 

Amused, seongwoo decides to ditch his school work (along with his feelings for the meantime), and grab the now abandoned bowl of chips to munch on some as he watches the two continue to bicker like idiots.

 

___________

 

Seongwoo can be a little bit of a coward when it comes to confronting his feelings. so of course, he stalls — big surprise.

 

  
  
He doesn't get to do it for long though because minhyun literally throw him out of his own flat few days after _‘the talk’_ while yelling _'If you ever come back before dealing with all of your fucking problems I'll kick your ass._ ' as seongwoo laugh his ass off at how unnatural cursing sounds out of minhyun’s sacred lips.

 

Be it funny or not, for the other to use such a strong language means that he’s dead serious, which means seongwoo have three options for tonight; A. stay at jaehwan’s. B. apologize to daniel. C. be homeless.

 

He wouldn’t even think let alone consider A — not in a million years, and he almost go with the third one but it’s cold and the only 5000 won he have in his wallet isn’t with him at the moment, so, B it is.

 

And that would be the little tale of how seongwoo ended up standing in front of daniel’s flat door with a forefinger couple inches away of the doorbell and his speech memorized and ready to be said. since he can’t be sure when his natural talent to fuck-up-his friendship-with-daniel would make an appearance he had to take some precautions.

 

He inhales deeply in attempt to calm his wrecked nerves and then ventures to press the small harmless button only to chicken out right away. For a second there he reconsiders staying at jaehwan’s, but of course; _never_.

 

He turns around, takes a few steps toward the stairs to leave for the fourth time already as he convince himself that sleeping on some cold wet alley isn’t as bad as it may seems, or that maybe if he begged just the right way minhyun would take mercy on him and let him in.

 

But he stops himself on the track right before he set a foot down then turns around once more then walk back to his original posture.

 

A tired sigh leaves his lips. He really needs to do it and sooner or later he’ll have to because if he doesn’t he’ll lose more than what he already might have lost. And no matter how he hates to admit it there will be no better opportunity like this where all the signs life gives him screams; _DO IT YOU COWARD._

 

 _But why must it be so goddamn difficult,_ he thinks as he ruffles his hair in frustration.

 

“Might as well just get over with it.” he whispers to himself as he puffs his chest, taking advantage of the tiny bit of bravery he convinces himself that he have then hastily press the button. And only when he does he realizes he’s screwed.

 

Seongwoo can feel himself starting to freak out as he hears the faint ringing echo coming from the other side of the door.

 

A hundreds of thoughts cross his mind in the so little amount of time which all are focused on how to disappear in two seconds because mentally, and even physically he’s not close to ready for facing daniel.  

 

The door opens forcing seongwoo out of his thought and into reality as it take down his last chance of gateway as well.

 

“Goddammit jaehwan what took you so lo–.” daniel stops his snarl when he realizes it's not Mr.chubby cheeks he’s talking to.

 

The younger looks pissed. his dirty blond locks are a tad messy — probably due the habit of ruffling his hair whenever he gets too frustrated. And he’s wearing his reading glasses too.

 

In conclusion; _Daniel looks hella cute_ and seongwoo's timing couldn’t be worse.

 

The younger narrow his eyes as he stares coldly at him and seongwoo kind of really wants the floor to swallow him right there.

 

“H-hey,” he stutters in a squeaky voice with an awkward smile on his face that he hopes it’ll overshadow the amount of uneasiness filling his chest.

 

Despite how unwelcoming the younger’s gaze appears to be and that he doesn’t greet back, seongwoo still dares to asks.

 

“Can I come in?”

 

With a sigh, daniel walks in leaving the door open for seongwoo who follows cautiously.

 

The living room is a mess as usual, the only thing out of ordinary other than the tons of papers scattered around is the two laptops with empty cups sitting on the small coffee table.

 

“Jaehwan and I were finishing our project so– excuse the mess.” daniel says as if he could read seongwoo’s mind. his tone isn’t exactly friendly but better than what seongwoo had expected.

 

“Jaehwan is here?” he asks despite knowing the answer while trying to ignore the ugly feeling in his stomach. Even though he had convinced himself that he’s done with the fact of him not being fond of jaehwan and daniel spending time together (he’d rather not say nor think of that word), he’d still prefer to have the talk then scramble away immediately before he witness a scene he won’t like.

 

“He went to buy us some snacks half hour ago but didn’t come back.” daniel answers him with a tone filled with irritation. Looks like jaehwan is dragging him late, fuck that mandu.

 

“What do you want?” daniel asks suddenly startling seongwoo with his _straight to the point_ attitude and getting a puzzled look from the older who takes a second to get what he’s implying.

 

“You came for something, right? So what is it?” daniel asks once more, tone still cold as ice.

 

Seongwoo scratch the side of his neck nervously, feeling like an idiot for a moment. And then lift his eyes to lock gaze with the younger in attempt to show that he’s calm and collected on contrary of what he actually feels, which is probably shown by his shaky, uneven breath.

 

Good thing he came prepared this time.

 

“I’m sorry,”

 

Daniel raise an eyebrow at him and seongwoo isn’t certain what’s the mean behind it but he continues anyway.

 

“For the other day, when I blabbered some stuff mindlessly while I was drunk without giving any thoughts to your feelings, It was a dick move that I don’t even know why I did nor that I’m proud of, So I’m sorry, I really am.”

 

Despite how awfully scripted his words sound when it out of his mouth, he still hopes the sincerity and regret in his apology would reach the younger.

 

A minute mark that feels more like an hour to seongwoo passes and daniel still say no word. It doesn’t help the uneasiness the other suffers but he still waits patiently with his eyes casted down like an obedient puppy.

 

 

 

“why did you say it?” he jolts when the younger finally speaks.

 

“What you told me the other day, why did you say it?”

 

It takes seongwoo a second to realize what he’s going about and really, how stupid of him to believe that daniel would actually let it slide just like that.

 

“I said I was drunk.” even with the sudden suffocating shift in atmosphere seongwoo manages to keep his tone cool and almost casual.

 

“You seemed pretty sure of your words though, so why?”

 

Seongwoo finally lift his head to look at the other who keeps an unreadable expression on his face.

 

“It’s not important, daniel.” he fumbles with his fingers restlessly as he says it.

 

“It is for me, so seongwoo please–” The sound of the front door opening interrupts him.

 

“Sorry I’m late it took me forever to decide between banana milk or strawberry milk but guess what! I got us bo– oh, bad timing huh?” jaehwan stops his cheerful blabber in horror when he notices the sharp glare daniel points at him.

 

“No no it’s fine, I was heading out anyway.” taking advantage of the situation, the older of the two hastily make his way to the front door, patting jaewhan’s shoulder while muttering a small _good luck on your project_ before he closes the door behind him without sparing the two another glance.

 

He rushes down the stairs and when he’s out on the street he gives in and crouch down then let out a long desperate whine as he buries his face into his palms, not minding the weirded out looks coming from the old couple who’s passing by.

 

An idiot. A dumbass. A freaking shithead is what he is, He could hear the voice inside his head screaming all these kinds of insulting names at him, he deserves them though for acting dumb and not taking the content of his drunk blabber into account.

 

But It’s okay, it’s fine, it’ll be alright, he’ll try to talk to daniel again, just like he did before and it’ll work, Hopefully.

 

Except that it won’t, it could never work this way and he knows it. And there’s no way daniel would take any sort of half assed explanation not that seongwoo could think of one, or even just let it go, He didn’t do that now so why later. And even if he dared to explain his selfish thoughts it’ll only show daniel the reality of how pathetic he is and the younger would most likely end up hating him. And hate is the nicest word he could think of at the moment.

 

He huffs loudly as he ruffles his hair in frustration, wondering if there’s any possible way to save their friendship.

 

The deeper he thinks though the more he realizes it’s not friendship that he wants, Not anymore. But it’s kind of too late now to take that turn especially after all the shit he had done without having one bit of consideration to daniel’s feelings.

 

He thinks of going back and talking to the other once more, begging him even to forget about it and start anew. or for him to just move on, like what daniel did, and maybe if he follow each and every step the younger took he could do it and get rid of his feelings fast like how the other did.  

 

He exhales tiredly as he shoves his face further between his knees in attempt to block all anymore unwanted thoughts from getting into his head.

 

 

_Did it really have to end up like this?_

 

It’s late and cold and he doesn’t feel okay so he presses on his stomach to ease the slight pain that’s forming within as another faint whine leaves his lips. The only wish he have right now is to blink twice and then find himself home laying on his bed so he can just sleep it all away.

  
  


“Seongwoo!”

 

He returns to reality at the sound of his name being called and when he lift his head, he’s met with the big figure of no other than daniel crouching before him.

 

How deep in thought was he that he didn’t realize the younger’s newly presence.

 

“You okay? What’s wrong?” daniel asks softly with worry evident on him by the way his brows are knitted.

 

Seongwoo wipes the wetness of his eyes which he wasn’t aware of as he nods hastily while hoping the other won’t ask anymore questions, and he doesn’t, He just stares at seongwoo with concern for moment before he gets up.

 

“Come on,” he holds seongwoo’s arm to help him on standing up as the other hurriedly get up himself without daring to look at the other. “You don’t look alright, I’ll walk you home.”

 

He’d argue back any other time but he decides to just not to since the younger would keep insisting and do what he wants eventually anyway. So he gives in when daniel pat his back gently and start walking along the younger.

 

During the walk seongwoo keeps on stealing subtle glances of the younger wondering what’s with the sudden change of attitude as he waits for the other to finally say something but the only thing he gets is a few sniffs and a comment about how cold the night is.

 

The intensity level of the atmosphere between them is insanely high that he almost turn to face the younger and ask what the hell is going inside his mind because seongwoo knows there’s something and he’s very anxious about it.

 

However, he decides to suck it up and walk silently since his apartment shouldn’t be far away from here and honestly, he’d rather not have ‘the talk’ anytime soon, he already feels emotionally drained due all the intense thoughts he had earlier.

 

An unintended sigh leaves his mouth as he turns tense when he realizes it grabbed the other’s attention.

 

“You sure you’re alright? You seemed really out of it just now.” daniel asks with a calm tone as he scans the other with his eyes who simply nods in affirmation.

 

It’s the younger’s turn now to let a long sigh before he stops on his track causing seongwoo’s eyes to look at him instinctively which he kind of regret because even though the expression the younger shows is somehow hard to read he still could catch some sort of uneasiness in it.

 

“Listen, I know it’s partly– if not all my fault that you’re avoiding me right now so I’m sorry for acting cold towards you just before and for getting all riled up the other night,” daniel stops to take a deep breath before he continues not minding the dumbfounded expression seongwoo wears on his face.

 

“You're not in the clear either, obviously, but still I shouldn't have acted that way, and of course I shouldn’t have pressured you the way I did tonight but I guess I was too desperate to act rationally.”

 

“You need to tell me why you said that, seongwoo, you have to you owe it to me, because ever since then the small glimpse of hope your words gave me have been driving me absolutely insane and I don’t know what to do with it.”

 

It struck him how the other appears equally troubled as him by the way his breath comes out shaky, or how he nibbles on his lips every now and then. And It pains him even more that he’s knows he’s the main cause of it.

 

“I’m not asking for much, just talk to me, seongwoo.” startling seongwoo even more he begins again, voice much softer this time as he stares at the other with pleading eyes.

 

This is definitely not what seongwoo had expected.

 

He thought maybe daniel offered to walk him due the pettiness the older have shown back in his flat, or maybe to end things officially as in I-no-longer-want-to-be-associated-with-you, but not a single scenario that crossed his mind contained daniel pouring his heart out to him.

 

He’s giving him another chance and It feels too good to be true, too good to be wasted.

 

So he takes it.

 

“Before– at first I mean, when you asked me for some time– or space I don’t know. Anyway it was fine. Like I could have waited for you more than what I made you believe,” he’s a little hesitant with his words, scared of how easy things could go south, since he have history with that.

 

Daniel looks taken back a little, like he’s surprised that seongwoo is _in fact_ talking.

 

“But then I started seeing you hanging out with jaehwan, almost everywhere and you’re always all over him– I hated it. I don’t know what’s wrong with it but I just really hated it and I– I don’t know it just sucked okay, “seongwoo is very certain he’s starting to sounds like a whiny brat by now but continues anyway.

 

“And not in the way I’ve told you before,”

 

He takes a deep inhale to calm his racing heart.

 

“Not because I was afraid you’ll ditch me, but more like I– okay this is fucked up but the idea of you holding or hugging or sniffing or kissing or even laughing with someone that isn’t me makes me feel horrible especially when I was out of the picture.”

 

He finished in one breath, panting for some air when he hears a chuckle.

 

A freaking chuckle, Daniel is laughing.

 

Seongwoo turns red and he’s not sure if it’s due the heavy amount of humiliation he’s feeling right now or because he’s fuming with anger and is offended by the younger’s insensitive reaction.

 

“What the fuck daniel.” he says through gritting teeth while thanking god for not stuttering.

 

“Pfft– no I’m sorry I don’t mean to– oh my god–” his laughter grow with each word and only stops when he realizes how red the older looks right now.

 

“I just– you’re jealous of jaehwan and that’s just so fucking hilarious.” he says as he wipes his teary eyes while trying to maintain his cackling.

 

Seongwoo stares at him with deep frown until the other is finally calmed down, he then takes a step closer causing every fiber of seongwoo’s body to scream at him to step back but he can’t, he feels petrified by the other’s intense stare.

 

“You didn’t answer my question though,” he takes another step. “Why did you get jealous of jaehwan? why were you against the idea of me moving on?”

 

Seongwoo feels hypnotized by the younger’s gentle tone, it’s like he’s holding him under some spill, and he kind of suspect that because he unintentionally mumbles the same three words that caused him misery.

 

“Because I like you.”

 

He doesn’t miss the way the younger’s eyes widen a little as he waits for the shit to hit the fan, for something bad to happen like usual or for him to realize that it’s all wrong and he really doesn’t like him.

 

But it doesn’t, in fact it feels right, more like perfect, especially when the younger leans in catching his lips in a small kiss.

 

To his dismay, the sensation doesn’t last long and is stolen when daniel pulls away causing the other to let out a small whimper.

 

“Good, because I like you too.”

 

Seongwoo feels too giddy after the kiss to register his words right away, but when he does he can feel his heart racing insanely.

 

“I thought you were over me.” it comes out of his mouth without a thought.

 

“I tried, never worked.”

 

Daniel chuckles at the way the older snorts at him before he leans to give the corner of his mouth a small peck and earns another whine when the other fails to chase his lips.

 

“I gotta go.” he says while resisting the sudden big urge to kiss away the pout on the other’s lips.

 

“No you don’t have to.” Seongwoo whines like the brat he is (since he’s with daniel he gets the privilege to do so) as he tries to cling into the other’s arm who lets him.

 

“The project is due next week and there’s so much to do, also there’s no guarantee that jaehwan hasn’t set the apartment on fire yet.” he says as he caresses the older’s cheek to ease his frown, and it kind of works. However, the desire to murder jaehwan brutally remains there.

 

Despite the disappointment seongwoo nods defeatedly at daniel who gives the other’s palm a light squeeze before he turns to head back to his apartment.

 

It takes seongwoo exactly five seconds to realize he forgot something.

  

“Daniel!” he yells to the other who look back at the call of his name.

 

“Do you wanna go out with me, sometimes?” 

 

Daniel knit his brows, pretending to be deep in his thought and just as seongwoo starts to feel his heart dropping he cracks his infamous puppy smile.

 

 

“Lunch, tomorrow, I’ll get rid of jeahwan.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> first of all, a big thank you to the gapyeong lovers mods who made this beautiful event happen and for the lovely prompter for their cute prompt (/‿＼✿).
> 
> tbh I was hesitant about if I should participate in the fic fest or not due my lack of experience in writing but one cannot resist ongniel can they :3 so I hope my humble attempt was at least worth reading and that it wasn't a disappointment to either the prompter or lovely readers.
> 
>    
> Thank you for reading!


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